Passion for Ignorance

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One of my favorite quotes of Andrew is:

“Sooner or later these practices will reveal your passion for Ignornace.”

I think its a very true and very brilliant statement. The power in the Illusory form teachings is that it teaches us not to grasp as tightly as we once did to things, beliefs, and emotions.

Would love to hear about experiences you have had in your own lives or things you have witnessed in other peoples lives, that have revealed this Passion for Ignorance.

For me personally it was shedding light on my delussions regarding Alcohol. It took me years to quit the habit. I was amazed at how it destroys ones will power to say no, and how often the ego would find the most creative reasonings for why drinking was a good idea.

After about a year of Sobriety, I began to question what other held ‘Truths’ I had about the world and life, that may not be as true as I first thought. This definitely helped me increase my awareness and brought with it an increased questioning of the world around me.

I had an experience this week that made me think this would be a good thread topic:

The day of the full moon this week, I was in a grocery store getting food. I walked past a woman in an aisle, who said “excuse me” to one of the guys that worked there “Can you help me find…”
The guy walked past her.
I passed into the next perpendicular aisle, but could still hear her.
She called to him multiple times and got really angry that he did not stop and help her.
I circled around from the other aisle back to her, after seeing who the guy was she was mad at. It had been about 10 seconds since the guy had past, and she was still galaring in his direction, muttering to herself.
I shop at the store frequently. I looked at her and pointed to my ear, and said:
“He is deaf”
Her face changed instantly. You could visibly see the ‘light of awareness’ cutting through the ignorance. The anger was replaced with compassion.

I think this story hits home becuase it increased my compassion as well. It made me wonder how many times a week do situations like this happen to this guy? How many times a year?

I think the more we combat the ingorance within ourselfs the more we can start to see the delsuions and ignorance plaguing others and the world.

I would be very interested in hearing your experiences and stories people passion for ignorance, in your own life, or of other peoples, or both.

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In a store, famous for cheap and odd ball merchandise, looking for something cheap and a good buy. I am in one aisle and in the next, there are three employees slowly walking, discussing putting up a display in the front of the store. I just happened to overhear the conversation. One guy, I see as the clearly youngest, is describing to the other two, an experience he had recently with the store manager. To paraphrase and correct for the disintegration of memory, the younger employee told the others that he had been asked to put together the latest display of something-or-other and that he had done it so well, and so quickly, that the manager praised him, and would ask him to put together these displays whenever they came in. The youth then opined something to effect that “Shit, Who wants all that work? I am never going to do anything so fast or so well ever again!” The other two employees congratulated his resolve. I wouldn’t have believed it unless i heard it with my own ears.

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It is easy to get caught up in my own little world but as I’ve started migrating out of my head I’ve tried to see things through others eyes as much as possible. It allows me to be more understanding when talking to people about difficult situations we may be in or things they may be going through. I try to be as open and helpful as I can be. Before avoiding conversations, situations or engaging like that was a quick and easy solution but it may have been kind of what the title alludes to in regards to my ignorance while going about my day to day life.

The story about the woman in the grocery store is a good example of how a little bit of awareness and seeing things, or hearing things through another person’s perspective can really change the way you respond to a situation. It also shows how it is important to have as much information about something before jumping to a conclusion. That concept IMO should apply to everything in waking life.

I know I have blind spots, I try to question my beliefs and I try to be open to new perspectives and information as much as possible, especially with so much disinformation and propaganda everywhere now.

Thank you for sharing your struggles with addiction. I can relate to the struggles with alcohol. I have not taken the full sobriety route but in the past I would drink nearly every night after work, I limit myself to two nights a week and also limit the amount I drink which has been very transformative for me and those around me. This can tie back into the point about seeing things through another’s perspective.

I don’t know if any of this makes sense on the topic but wanted to give a shot replying.

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Have you checked out Andrews Podcast interview:

“John Dupuy - An Exploration of the Principles of Intoxication, Addiction, and Sobriety”

I thought it was really well done. Really want to read Johns book now.

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